For most of us, it's winter. Which means it's soul-suckingly cold. But for this week's Shooting Challenge, we're celebrating all of those frozen motifs—ice, snow and frosty breath. For this week's Shooting Challenge, show us freezing cold.

The Challenge

Take a chilling photo. Use any winter motif—ice, snow or anything else you can think of that conveys cold.

The Technique

It can be tough to get that perfectly exposed shot of snow. The secret? Try overexposing it by a stop or two so it glows to your lens like it does to your eyes.

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And for those of you who aren't surrounded by ice and snow, maybe try to make an ice filter. It's a fun way to instantly freeze any scene. Or just find a way to creatively freeze and photograph ice.

When most of us find ourselves looking through ice, it may be the last, chilling scene we ever see. …
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The Example

Our lead shot is from a past ice challenge. It's by John Kilmister, who used his HTC Desire (this was 2011, OK?) to photograph a macro-esque shot of a frozen trailer tire. The effect looks like some frozen alien world.

The Rules

0. No watermarks. They're so ugly.
1. Submissions need to be your own.
2. Photos must be taken since this contest was announced.
3. Explain, briefly, the equipment, settings, technique and story behind shot.
4. Email submissions to contests@gizmodo.com, not me.
5. Include 970px wide image (200KB or less) AND a native resolution sized shot in email.
6. One submission per person.
7. Use the proper SUBJECT line in your email (more info on that below)
8. You agree to the Standard Contest Rules - though we DO accept non-US resident submissions.
9. If the image contains any material or elements that are not owned by you and/or which are subject to the rights of third parties, and/or if any persons appear in the image, you are responsible for obtaining, prior to submission of the photograph, any and all releases and consents necessary to permit the exhibition and use of the image in the manner set forth in these rules without additional compensation. If any person appearing in any image is under the age of majority in their state/province/territory of residence the signature of a parent or legal guardian is required on each release.

Send your best photo by Monday, January 21st at 10AM Eastern to contests@gizmodo.com with "Freeze" in the subject line. Save your files as JPGs, and use a FirstnameLastnameFreeze.jpg (970px wide) and FirstnameLastnameFreezeWallpaper.jpg (2560px wide) naming conventions. Include your shooting summary (camera, lens, ISO, etc) in the body of the email along with a story of the shot in a few sentences. And don't skip this story part because it's often the most enjoyable part for us all beyond the shot itself!